>> this is "taking stock" for wednesday, may 20 first, 2014. i'm pimm stock. today's theme is the perfect fit. and make the perfect shirt the chief executive will explain how he came from an mba at oxford university to being a fashion designer who is giving away money. alwaysrides are also looking for the perfect fit on their big day. and way back burgers, this

restaurant chain is looking for the perfect international fit with an american staple, the hamburger. but first, let's go to the headlines with su keenan. >> l brand out with numbers .fter the close of u.s. trading the maker of victoria's secret beat estimates with net sales coming in at $2.4 billion. the company, though, did narrow its outlook for the year. bank of america said to be dismantling electronic market making units. this is according to two people with knowledge of the decision due to increased regulatory scrutiny. and tiffany's posted fourth-quarter -- quarterly profit that exceeded analyst estimates. those are the top headlines.

very much, su keenan. for more on tiffany, l brand, and the rest of the retail sector, i want to bring in craig johnson, the president of customer growth partners. also, a guest from bloomberg industries. , you wereime we spoke waiting for the jcpenney results and you thought they would show better margins and that they would be able to stabilize their business. that happened? >> absolutely. i think they achieved their target and better than expected sales and they have seen customers return to stores. the results were simply spectacular. they did better and everyone else was doing worse. >> what do you think? better when everyone else was doing worse? i the way i recall -- the way call it, this is the tallest of the midgets. jcpenney had a really good

quarter compared to where it was. but it compares to a company that was about 25% to 30% lower than they used to be. they had a very low bar to climb over. literally percent decrement. if you can't beat a 30% decrement, you are in the wrong business. jcpenney, is this a one-off situation echo they've got a big -- situation? they've got a big turnaround going on. give us the landscape of the different sectors. tiffany today, very well, stock goes up. >> tiffany is very strong. a step-by-step process. it's a long turnaround. it is not just going to happen in a quarter or two. you have to crawl, walk, then run. crawl now, then walk, and then pick up speed.

tiffany is open for business, needless to say. they had a terrific quarter, but a lot of their business we believe was in the , the very high-end. and we believe one of the reasons for that is buyers like the chinese and others coming here and buying tiffany as partly a currency hedge. yes, you get the great value that you are giving -- giving your wife or your girlfriend, or both. a nice item, but then there is whether it ishad, the yuan or yen or whatever. >> would you agree with that >>ctuate -- fluctuation echo i agree with that as far as buyers from japan or asia. but if you look at the stock

market overall, the prices are all up. the luxury consumer has a sense of more wealth. got the brother results as well and they did very well. >> they did. and the high-end continues to do well and it is a trend we have seen for a few years. >> what does that mean for the big department store chains ike macy's? macy's, i would say, is aspirational luxury. they fell short on sales, which they blamed on the weather, but also being in a more promotional letter -- promotional he competitive landscape. they are doing well, but not as well as the burberry customer or the tiffany customer. >> what do you think? had not a very good quarter. that happened in retail. the other issue affecting not just macy's, but the entire apparel sector more broadly is

that discretionary spending on goods is softening. there is a rotation in discretionary with a distressed consumer high utility bills in the winter, with taking the oxygen out of the room on discretionary goods. as people rotate into the nondiscretionary goods, and other necessities. of target?you make >> target is an interesting study. they came in relatively well in a sense. -- they hads good tremendous problems in canada. this will be a multiyear turnaround. it is not just flipping a switch, get a new seo, and things will be better. they have to fix merchandise that has lost its shine in the last few years. they need to get a new seo -- ce

o on board. and they need someone who is combination left brain and right brain. >> i agree. target is a multiyear turnaround. to then you speak canadian customer, and especially target on their apparel front, the import duties that they pay to bring that apparel in prices them above the u.s. prices, which their customers recognize. they have crossed the border and shop target. in terms of the u.s., what i found was the difference between investment and price. walmart competes and you've seen them be much more promotional in the first quarter. what does that mean for the markets in the long run? do they continue to promote at a discount echo to compete with walmart -- at a discount to compete with walmart, which usually has the best price? >> one retail content right now you think is really working, what is it?

>> the one that is still great is the warehouse costs. costco is the one exception to everything year in and year out. you don't hear them complaining about the weather. >> like home depot did yesterday. sales were soft because of the weather. >> that is partially true. but the housing comeback is headed back south again. it has been very weak since last labor day. and the home improvement are still very tight to the health of the -- tied to the health of the housing market. and the real health to lowe's or untilepot won't return people return to those big ticket kitchen and back remodel items. in that industry will come back. and that won't come back until housing comes back. >> home depot, lowe's? >> quite a bit of an asterisk.

you definitely need to see a turnaround. $50,000 is a big ticket. either you are taking out a home equity line or you have savings. and for those midtier customers, that is a big rice to pay all of a sudden. >> yes, home depot's stock is down about five percent this about eightse percent this year. thank you for joining us. coming up next, i will introduce you to the cofounder of a shirt but andoking to get you using the internet. they're giving money away, literally. weo, technology and how discussed the $50 billion a year wedding industry. we are talking the latest wedding trends with bride magazine. ♪

flex luxury -- >> luxury shirts from virginia. how do you take an online business that is on track to lien dollars in sales? and wisest man giving away money? meets the cofounder of library. story of youre not so direct route of haberdashery. >> right, i was not always a business maker. andnt to business school was in the school of finance. i know my partner's there. london with about 20,000 other people and we said, what next? we got into the clothing business, particularly shirts.

the problem was we didn't know how to make sure it's at the time. fast forward, we ended up partnering with the german street taylor for about a year. we launched a business in virginia in 2009. we sold about 100,000 shirts to about 25,000 customers that first year. >> i'm curious, when you let your family know that you had decided to go into the world of learning how to make shirts, cut fabric, and make clothing, what was their original -- initial reaction echo >> they thought i was a little crazy. i think i had one or two people tell me that i should make her lap shirts, because -- burlap shirts, because that was where they thought that market was headed. have been able to grow through the recession. >> virginia, is there an advantage to being in virginia

when starting a business like this? costrst, there is the advantage over being in new york relate to but there is also the brand perspective. we are based in virginia and are.ng the story of who we we are making clothing, whether it is a dress shirt that is more english or a moleskin hunting shirt. we have a different perspective. >> what is the most popular stuff right now? >> probably the basic twill that we have right now, the gorgeous italian twill in blues and whites. a feeling credible and you can wear them all day. -- they feel incredible and you can wear them all day. we come out with a new style shirt for each week. >> right, for 30 days echo >> yes, and it exposes our customers to fabric they would not see anywhere else. they find what they love and they keep coming back.

>> where are the shirts made? >> they are made all over. we do a lot of production in poland. we do production in turkey, italy, and some in scotland and the u.s. >> did you learn this as you went along echo >> -- as you went along? >> we did. we work with a german street anchor -- street shirt maker for about a year. a learned how to make it into great garment. rightt are the big buyers now? >> we are based in virginia, but we run nationally. new york is our biggest market. , done ins well, texas houston. and san francisco and l.a.. >> and you are making so much money and doing so well that you decided to give away $25,000. what are you doing? >> it sounds a little crazy, but

we started with a handful of friends who believed in our theness and they give us capital to start creating our shirts. it is now thriving. we have always said, how can we pay that forward? only for started we had a section called "meet our friends," where we tell their story. giving're doing is $25,000 to one deserving entrepreneur to help them get their dream of the consumer business off the ground. and we are loving it. people are applying. we will get a chance to pay something small -- pay something forward in a small way. >> and how can they connect if they have a dream? >> they can apply for the next four days during application timeframe at our webpage le dbury.com. we are having a great time with it.

make a small difference in one entrepreneurs life. >> fast-forward for five years, how would you like people to ledbury?lead very -- but -- >> that we sell lots of great shirts, but more important, that we are a great business. can sell shirts, created good business, and create some other small businesses along the way. >> keep us up to date on who gets the $25,000. >> definitely. >> the chief executive and cofounder of ledbury. theng up, you will meet chief executive of the blood -- rtaboula. they want you to clicked and clicked and clicked and they need your help.

♪

>> millions of eyeballs every day, millions of evil online reading articles everyday. what are these -- of people's eyeballs reading articles everyday. what are the links at the bottom of the story? who are "they"? tabula.them is we are joined now by the chief executive. how do you position to people the -- how do you explain to people the position on the screen so they understand what

you're talking about when you are talking about the blood -- tabula? similar to buying content on amazon, we do that. several years ago, i saw people looking for content and content looking for people. that is where we need help to find things in real life. we need assistance. >> how do you build those things behind the scenes to make those connections? we started with 130 billion recommendations a month, recommending to 70% of this country, which means that two out of three people you see on are interacting. look at theay to

relationship between people and objects, articles, videos, images. do you bring that to the world of advertising and serving us the right kind of information? transition a major in the industry. it is half $1 trillion built into $120 billion in advertising. are less and less clicking on banners and pictures and more on social like facebook. people are consuming content from their mobile. with things like candy crush, facebook, twitter. what are we supposed to do next? we collect the signal and the direct content throughout the day and every 15 minutes, we find a relationship between

those items. >> i want to pick up on one of , theords that you use signal. able tomost like you're take the electronic pulse rate of each individual viewer as they migrate through the pages of the internet. if that kind of what the system will allow you to do? >> yes, most companies that are doing targeting in this dimension have 20 to 40 sensors that target consumers with different types of ads. we found a way within our company to invent a sort of blender, a device that will connect more than 1000 signals in real-time. and then we look at everything we've connected and we find those relationships. that is why it is very efficient and it teaches itself to get that people moment

are consuming content. >> and a lot of your previous experience connects with us. you are in the israeli defense -- were in the israeli defense force and one of the top engineers. tasked -- this was my first job after seven years as an officer of intelligence in the israeli army. we were tasked with an and challenging security task with a small amount of resources. it was a combination of a lot of data, a lot of applied mathematics and computer science. and many ofg people them are still at taboola right now. >> what about competition? how do you combat that? >> it is a huge space. we are happy that other companies in this space are going in. it will only get more exciting.

>> thank you very much , adamsingolda, the chief executive of taboola. coming up, people spend 50 billion dollars year on weddings in the united states. do they spend it intelligently? we will find out. ♪

>> this is "taking stock" on bloomberg and i'm pimm fox. now for the headlines with su keenan. >> chinese president she's you be -- the chinese president has agreed on a $400 billion natural gas deal with russia. economicmoscow and boost at a time when washington and the european union have imposed sanctions against russia. and general motors is said to be overhauling its ilk -- it's

legal department. after the latest recall yesterday. g.m. says it wants the latest information about defects shared more quickly between departments. and finally, president obama says he can appreciate a team overcoming long odds. he welcomed the seattle seahawks to the white house today. he says he roots for the underdog. him, back to you. >> thank you very much. money may not guarantee happiness, but it helps. at least $51 billion a year says it does. it employs more than 800,000 evil in the bridal and wedding -- 800,000 people in the bridal and wedding industry. ofis approximately the cost , on average,g $27,000.

by kia minor and the executive of a website called new wish. glad to have you both here. when it comes to brides and weddings, give us an overview about who spend, why did they spend, and how much? parents not about paying for your wedding anymore. we are seeing that they really want to customize their day. and that is where technology and new developments come into play, and all of the apps out there that are helping couples land the wedding they want. >> because she mentioned the word technology, that is a great segue for you to describe exactly what you do and you came to the federal reserve to do this. >> i did.

that was my previous life. >> you left the fed to go into the wedding business? our people are so -- are people surprised? >> i spent several years at the fed and i went back to grad school. i happen to be engaged at the time. that is how new wish was born. it was following my own experience with my own wedding registry. particularly the fact that we were not able to get into some of our favorite brick-and-mortar shops. after doing a lot of research, i realized i was not alone. in fact, generation y accounts for about 70% of weddings today. this is new and emerging technology. this is also an audience that creates choice, convenience, and personalization. it is every aspect of the wedding, and registry is no different. with this cohort in mind, we

helpsd new wish, which couples get beyond the conventional sources and allows them to tap into boutiques, brand, artisans all over the country and allows them to add all of the costs in one place. it also allows them to personalize gifts, anything from dance lessons to art to feed to wine -- to food to wine. apps in theoned industry. give us an idea of some of the more popular ones. >> there are so many. we talk about this all the time, that you can plan your entire wedding from your desk if you want to. that our budget talking tool is so popular. three out of four couples do use some sort of online device to budget. and 30% actually go over budget.

perhaps they are those that are to track their finances. in addition to that, you can actually shop for your wedding dress or bridesmaids dresses through a website called wedding connect. nowadays, brides and bridesmaids could be spread out throughout the country and it's difficult to shop for the dresses. and the dresses that the bride likes, she can pull up more than selection,, make a put them in a virtual dressing room and her bridesmaids can logon and vogue a ornate for those that she likes -- and vote those that she likes. all of the bridesmaids can comment on what she likes. streamlined more way. amanda, a little bit more on this idea of budgets and how things -- how much things cost.

do you find there is a way to set a budget and then say, i will draw down just as you would draw down from a bank account so you can actually meet the goal and -- of getting married and still being solvent at the same time? registriesing probably the one thing you are not paying for. and besides your self, it is the one thing you will have long after your wedding. it is not something in my world that you have to budget for. being very conscious of having an assumable price link for the quick something for everybody. >> something where everyone can contribute. >> the cost of weddings is not just limited to the wedding thelf, but also the travel, hotel, the hospitality involved. how is that connected to the demand that people have in organizing a party? how many people showed up on time? is there an invitation?

is there an integrated approach? >> there definitely is. there is something that takes the wedding website a step further, where a couple can develop an app that their guests can download and have all the details of the wedding, or wedding weekend more likely, right at their fingertips. they know they need to be at the clambake the night before the actual wedding, then they will have those details on their phone. >> new wish not only has the traditional types of registry gets, but experiences. tell us about the mark streit mary experiences. >> -- about the more extraordinary experiences. >> what is hot right now really are the experiences. especially with those couples that may have known each other and been together for years. experiences,king

museum memberships, and then also intervene to honeymoon activities. it was early not common practice five to 10 years ago. >> as far as using all of this great technology, is there any way to track what is successful and what is not? how do you rate those experiences? >> we test them and we get a lot of feedback from our audience based on social media. we throw a question out there and people tell us in a heartbeat whether something is working for them or not. we are constantly trying to a better pool for our audience to stream in the process for them and we get feedback on that. >> thank you both very much. with aup, i will speak

burger executive on the company's 2000 calorie burger. brand eonthe burger the united states. later on, look inside the life of a bartender in what are new york's hottest cocktail bars. ♪

but according to a recent research report, fast casual restaurant sales grew by about 11% in 2013. one company that has capitalized on this trend is called the way back burger. they aren't 24 states and 30 different countries. -- they are in 24 states and 30 different countries. i am joined now by way back spurs executive vice president. burger's executive vice president. -- the story.mple

ande started many years ago had an indication that it could be multiplied will. >> and now has expanded to 24 states in the united states. but your overseas expansion, how did that begin? >> it began because one of our customers that visited the u.s. quite often fell in love with the burger and met with us. he came to our offices and went back to the middle east and decided they wanted to have a branch of their multinational type company in the food and beverage business. we finally worked out the details and we are now in 28 countries in the middle east and north africa. >> let's go some of the -- through some of the country. i've noticed you have signed agreements in places like egypt, as well as turkey -- >> algeria. >> saudi arabia. >> a rock -- a rack, iran.

>> what was the biggest challenge starting it up in a q?ck -- ira >> perception. the company that helped us start up was really familiar with the country and very assuring that we would be able to bring burgers into countries like these. how do you supply your restaurant? do you have international distribution? >> we do. it is a small world. we have food branches of our offices throughout the world. the challenge is fresh beef. we have solved that issue. there are many countries nearby that do a lot of exporting of fresh the. beef.sh other than that, proprietary runs -- runs and other ingredients. other you going to pursue

agreement? >> absolutely. we are pursuing mexico and canada. it seems to be a very interesting area where people want to get involved in american brands in these countries. the key for us and the one thing we bring to the table is you have to love our product. andnvite them to the u.s. they spend a couple of days with us. we get to know them. and when you have a master franchise, you are giving your brand to another entity or individual, so you want to make sure they take care of it. >> is there a fundamental difference in franchising outside the u.s. aced on the way this done traditionally? >> absolutely. here in the u.s., it is more of a one or two or three store process. individuals that may be out of work or looking for a career change and always wanted to be in the burger business. burgerhey worked at a

place in college. in the international market, we are dealing with a lot of companies that are -- that have a lot of different divisions and are well capitalized. that is the difference. >> tell us about the link this mountain of a hamburger. >> are you referring to the triple triple? >> yes. >> that started out as a single store challenge by a franchisee, and through youtube and social media has morphed into a national campaign right now. there is a contest for who can eat it the quickest. i think we are down to 32 seconds for the person to eat that burger. it has been in our face for the last couple of months. >> is that also with international franchisees? is that part of the whole brand they are trying to bring to their customers? >> absolutely. they like anything americana, anything over-the-top the top. the bigger, the better. >> can you give us an idea of

the total chain sales right now? >> $30 million here in the u.s. >> and you would like to grow that to any particular level? >> we take it a by day. we do not have a set number out there. we grow our business every day. one of the attractive features to our business is that we customers lovee the product. >> right. >> and the best way to do that is to get your employees to engage, communicate, call the customers by name. that is how we do it, and we build it that way. >> did you have to build a restaurant menu to suit each per -- particular market? >> we do. in certain countries, we have to also the menu. that has always been the biggest challenge. but we have done that in the u.s. in certain regions as well. it is something we are accustomed to doing. >> thank you very much. coming up, you will meet a new york city bartender who keeps

track of how to make historically accurate cocktails for all of her wall street clientele. ♪

>> this is "taking stock" on bloomberg. i'm pimm fox. nobody ever said bartending is easy. i don't know, maybe they did. imagine trying to keep track of a dozen cocktail recipes from the 19th century. she doesn't have to imagine. she is a are tender at the dead rabbit in the financial district. she is here to tell us about the business of being a bartender, but also a certain kind of cocktail. how do you go and become a bartender? career? that become a >> for me, it was because of the recession. toost my job and i needed pay rent.

i had bartended in college and i said i would love to do it efficiently when i got a job. i loved the interaction. i loved all of the bottles behind the shelf and i thought, i could make a career out of this. when i started to make that jump, i saw how lucrative a career he can be and how wonderful the community really is. >> talk about the community at the dead rabbit, because that is a particular bar with a post together -- a particular philosophy. >> it is a family, honestly. working there is quite a dream. we focus on craft cocktails. we look at the initial cocktails from pre-prohibition ages and give them a modern tweak. that one of the first things that can happen at the dead rabbit is that people can be introduced to a punch that has alcohol or some kind of flavoring to it. who came up with that idea and

what does that do for the atmosphere? >> one of the owners, his idea was that we need go to a restaurant, you get a little treat with your meal. why can't you do that when you come to a cocktail bar? you get athe bar and little teacup of one of our punches. it is a great way to start off the day. and we make a lot of tea. talk about one of the ingredients that we know is behind every bar. that has to do with vodka. and you are the grand ambassador for american harvest house. wonderfulwith a company. i love the vodka category. sometimes in the cocktail community can get a bad rap. it is very versatile. thend you also are president of the new york

chapter of the bartenders guild. you have your professional pin. >> yes. >> what you do to become the president of the bartenders guild? >> you have to be elected. we have 3000 members strong over 40 chapters across the country. withderful organization bartenders across the country, and even globally with other organizations that work with us. ofis wonderful to be part something that represent something you are passionate about. >> and it means other people have to like the way you are preparing drinks, right? wrings a lotbody of creativity to the table and there is an exchange of ideas and networking. withu brought some recipes you today. could you describe some of the ingredients that go into these historical cocktails? >> what we prepared today am i wanted to show you the american harvest drink. this is the winter wheat. it goes really well for infusions. these are the best way to make a

great cocktail at home. flavored vodkas are one thing, but making your own flavored vodka with less sugar and more creativity -- and it looks beautiful. i used rhubarb today, cherry, and ginger. and the best thing to do is to put them into a mason jar. you can add whatever flavor you want, whether it be herbs or fruit or spice. keep it in a dark lace and -- place and turn it not vigorously, but thoroughly three times a day. before you go to work, when you get home from work, and before you go to bed. >> for how long? >> about two to five days and then you are done. and then you can make a punch. >> what is that one called? >> i call it the afternoon barbecue punch. it is an all-american based on. all of being redeemed. we are using local cherries that

we have infused into our american harvest vodka. thate using ginger lacour comes from brooklyn. cideren a little bit of and lemon juice and hunting. honey.easy -- and funn it is easy and refreshing. >> would you like to see more -- what would you like to see more of in your business? >> i would like to see more young adults coming into the career, into the bar as a career. it's wonderful to see hungry and ambitious people. i think it is a great place to be in. >> i want to thank you for sharing your story. dead rabbit and president of the new york chapter -- the new york bartenders guild. at nearly 94iced

million shares, 19 million -- $19 a share. thanks for "taking stock" and i'm pimm fox. good night. ♪

>> live from pier 3 in san francisco, welcome to "bloomberg west," where we focus on innovation, technology, and the future of business. i'm emily chang. ebay is the latest company to be the victim of a cyber attack. hackers broke into its database and has gained access to customer information. we will take a look at how companies can fight back. down withhambers sits us for an exclusive interview. he asked about his campaign to curb nsa surveillance and why he thinks cisco could be number one in security. first, a check on the bloomberg top